• How may the Home Front’s awareness of the war’s objectives and nature be characterized? How did propaganda affect the mindset at home?
  

As Sweden was a neutral country, all propaganda that addressed the war was a means of keeping its citizens out of the war’s affairs. The best example of this would be “En svensk tiger”

• This poster was a message to Swedes (as indicated in the tiger’s blue and yellow stripes) to be wary of foreigners and spies, as indicated in the tiger’s accusatory stare.
  

• What were the direct contributions of the Home Front to the war effort? This needs to go beyond a cursory statement of, “They supplied soldiers, grew food, made armaments, etc.” You should consider support not only in patriotic or industrial terms, but also political, social, economic, cultural/intellectual, moral/religious, emotional, etc., terms.
  
  • Sweden remained neutral throughout the war, however had German sympathies and allowed trade with them during the war. Before 1943, Sweden was very compliant with Nazi Germany and was fully integrated into its economy. Sweden traded Germany high grade steel for their coal, along with several other commodities such as ball bearings, foodstuff, and wood. Sweden also complied with the Third Reich by giving them much more credit than was needed, which the Nazis in turn paid back in stolen gold from the Netherlands and Belgium.
    
  • Complying with Germany for the first few years of the war was seen as mandatory in order to keep neutrality and not be occupied like its neighbors Norway and Denmark. Sweden contributed economic resources as a way to protect itself, however as of 1943 the Allied powers convinced Sweden to withdraw support. By doing so, Sweden’s association with Nazi Germany has diminished and they are no longer blamed for any economic help they might have given in the first few years of the war.
    
• What were the costs & benefits of the war to the Home Front, to include but not limited to goods/services/resources? Use a case study to illustrate./ How can life for women & youth on the Home Front be characterized? Use case studies to illustrate. (note - as Sweden was a neutral country, the following case study does not focus on cost/benefit analysis but an important human rights issue that Sweden participated in)
  
  • In 1943 alone, over 8,000 Jewish refugees were allowed to cross across Sweden’s borders. The best example of this however is with Raoul Wallenberg who worked at the Swedish embassy in Budapest, Hungary.
    
  • While working in Budapest, Wallenberg set up a temporary office and purposely only hired Jews to work for him. While under his “employment”, the Jews were required to remove their yellow stars and were guaranteed protection under the Swedish embassy. To prevent his “employees” from being deported to death or concentration camps, he issued falsified documents called “Schutzpasses”. They were elaborate looking government documents that helped save the lives of over 20,000 Hungarian jews. (See below)
    
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  • Using his architecture experience from the University of Michigan, Wallenberg managed to manipulate a set of extra houses to fit over 6 times as many people and then gave them Swedish diplomatic protection. Wallenberg also falsified passports to Sweden and gave them to Hungarian Jews to give them an opportunity to escape. Wallenberg also went out of his way to save Jews who were under Nazi attack, most notably a time where he and several of his Jewish employees swam into the Danube River and saved 50 Jews. His final act of kindness occurred when he stopped the Nazi officials from calling a raid on to the local Jewish Ghetto of over 70,000 jews. Wallenberg assured the Nazi official that as soon as Hitler fell he’d ensure that there would be severe repercussions to the official’s crimes against humanity.
    

Bibliography -
Petropoulos, Jonathan. "Co-Opting Nazi Germany: Neutrality in Europe During World War II." Co-Opting Nazi Germany: Neutrality in Europe During World War II. Anti-Defamation League, 1997. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. <http://archive.adl.org/Braun/dim_14_1_neutrality_europe.asp>.

"Budapest and Heroism." The Wallenberg Medal and Lecture. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. <http://www.wallenberg.umich.edu/heroism.html>.